ROME: The recent success of younger players on the men’s tour points to an ‘inevitable’ shift at the top of the ATP rankings, said world number one Novak Djokovic.

The last four ATP Masters 1000 events have been won by players outside the ‘Big Three’ of Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, 25, won the ATP Finals and the Paris Masters titles last year and has already displaced Spaniard Nadal from second spot.

Hubert Hurkacz, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev have won the three Masters events this year with Greek Tsitsipas the youngest of them at 22.

Djokovic, 33, told reporters at the Rome Masters on Monday that the results showed there was a generational shift underway.

“There are guys like Tsitsipas, Zverev, [Matteo] Berrettini, [Andrey] Rublev that are winning against all of us and playing a lot and building their ranking points,” he added. “Medvedev as well, of course, and challenging for the top spots. Dominic Thiem has been there for many years.

“It’s inevitable that it’s going to happen. The change on the men’s rankings, top of the rankings is coming. Whether it’s going to happen in a month or a year or whatever, I don’t know.”

For Nadal, the success of the younger players was normal but the Spaniard was not ready yet to write off his chances at Roland Garros, where he has won 13 major titles.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2021